Shadow Dancer (シャドー・ダンサー) is a side-scrolling action game produced by Sega originally released as an arcade game in 1989. It is the second arcade game in the Shinobi series, following the original Shinobi itself. The game was developed on the Sega System 18 motherboard hardware. Home versions were released for the Master System and various home computers. A loose adaptation was also developed for the Mega Drive/Genesis titled Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi. A terrorist group is planting numerous time bombs throughout the city. The player, a ninja master accompanied by a canine partner, sets out on four missions to dismantle the bombs and destroy the criminal syndicate behind these acts. The play mechanics of Shadow Dancer are not much different from the arcade version of the original Shinobi. The controls and almost all of the player's moves from the original Shinobi are present here as well. The biggest change is the addition of a canine companion that follows the protagonist around. When the dog barks towards an enemy, the player can sic the dog on the enemy by pressing the attack button while crouching, allowing the player an opportunity to attack the enemy while he's being bitten by the dog. However, if the player takes too long to attack the bitten enemy or the enemy has a strong defense, then the dog will be hurt and will turn into a harmless pup. The dog will remain in pup form until the player acquires the next time bomb or finishes the stage. The dog does not appear during boss battles. The player's weapons consists of an unlimited supply of shurikens and a sword which is used when adjacent to an enemy. When the player collects half of the time bombs in each stage, stronger weapons are granted until the player finishes the stage or loses a life. The player can also use from one of three random ninjutsu techniques (called "Ninja Magic" in the game) that will clear the entire screen of enemies. Normally, these techniques can only be used once per stage, but if the player continues the game after getting a Game Over by inserting another credit, the protagonist will restart the stage with two units instead of one. Bonus points are awarded if the player completes the game without using shurikens or ninjutsu. There are four different missions, consisting of three stages for the first mission and four stages each for the remaining three. In the first few stages of each mission, the player must collect a certain amount of time bombs scattered throughout the stage in order to proceed to the goal. The final stage in each mission is a confrontation between the player and the boss. Between missions, the player will participate in a bonus stage where (from the character's perspective) an army of ninjas dropping down from a building must be shot down. The player is awarded an extra life if he successfully complete these bonus stages.

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